فريش

Michael aka 'Fresh' (Sean Nelson) is a streetwise 12-year-old. He tries to balance school, friends, dysfunctional family and his full-time drug dealing job. His sister Nichole (N'Bushe Wright) is a drug addict. He plays chess with his alcoholic homeless father Sam (Samuel L. Jackson) at the park. He lives in his grandmother's house staying with his cousins and other relatives. He works for charismatic drug dealer Esteban (Giancarlo Esposito) who starts sleeping with Nichole. I love both Giancarlo Esposito and Samuel L. Jackson. They form compelling dueling father figures in Fresh's life. The best thing is Sean Nelson or the way that he's directed by Boaz Yakin. Sean is playing Fresh perfectly. He has both street toughness and also his youthful innocence. It's his quiet stillness that is so effective. I could really feel for him. It's a brilliant performance from this child actor.

I enjoyed _Fresh_, in particular the way the repeated image of chess and chess players mirrors Fresh's machinations. However, I found it very difficult to empathise much with Fresh, apart from one or two scenes. Here we have a kid who we see dealing drugs and running errands for dealers and wheeling and dealing in a *very* adult manner; in light of this the ending was, for me, more than a little unbelievable. Overall though, I found the film enjoyable.

This film doesnt come near receiving the credit it deserves..i was happy to see it at least has a 7 on IMDB. Sean Nelson should have gotten the rave reviews and academy award nomination for this work that mr haley joel osment got for 6th Sense. This kid was incredible, as the focal point for a gritty story about life in the south bronx, and how the chess games he plays with his father (Samuel L at his subtlest and best...) provide an analogy for his strategy to get he and his sister away from the drugs and poverty of the projects. Giancarlo esposito and nbushe wright give stellar performances, and Fresh's friend Chuckie is a definite scene stealer. There are some disturbing scenes here, especially a playground massacre with child victims. All in all a powerful and seamless story.

This film was one of those films which I didn´t expect much of but it was very good.I first saw this with my brother a couple of years ago and I don´t use to like this sort of films(Boyz N the hood Menace to society.....)but I liked it much more then my brother did,even if he loved those "hood" films at that time.The film has a low budget but one big star:SEAN NELSON!!! His acting is fantastic.The best parts of the film is when Fresh plays chess with his dad(Samuel L. Jackson).Also very good music by Stewart Copeland.Fresh is a intelligent gangster drama.4,5 out of 5